NBC's Lester Holt discusses the impact of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education on Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine were the first black students to attend the all white school.

In 1957, three years after Brown, schools in the south were still largely segregated. But in September of that year, nine black teenagers would attempt to enroll in a white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Their action would spark one of the pivotal battles of the Civil Rights movement and would bring the power of the presidency and the federal government into the dispute.

Harvard Law School, Mr. CHARLES J. OGLETREE Jr.: The Brown decision was decided in 1954, and people thought the battle was won. Well, it was just beginning, because the resistance to integration was massive.

HOLT: The Brown versus Board of Education ruling decreed that the integration of public schools be implemented with “all deliberate speed.” The ambiguity of that phrase provided states that practiced segregation with an excuse to take their time. The white community in Little Rock overwhelmingly opposed change. And after mass protest, Governor Orval Faubus refused to carry out a plan to integrate.

Little Rock Nine, ERNEST GREEN: Labor Day evening the governor was on television indicating that he was calling out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent us from going to school.

HOLT: The governor said the troops were there to prevent violence and to protect life and property. Despite several attempts by the students to enter the school, they were turned away. Just weeks later, a federal judge ruled that Governor Faubus had illegally used the troops to prevent integration.

Governor ORVAL FAUBUS: Now that a federal court, however, has chosen to substitute its judgment for mine, as to how the peace and order should be preserved, I must temporarily at least abide.

GREEN: We went to school for half a day, I think on the 23rd of September, and that was when the mob looked as if they were going to break through the police barriers.

HOLT: When a mob outside learned the students were already inside, chaos ensued. The situation had become so out of control, that on September 24th, three weeks after the crisis began, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a thousand members of army’s 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, and federalized the Arkansas National Guard.

President DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER: I have today issued an executive order directing the use of troops, under federal authority, to aid in the execution of federal law at Little Rock, Arkansas.

Mr. OGLETREE : It was a classic moment of the federal authority, president, confronting the local, state authority, the governor. And the governor was right, he had all sorts of support to continue segregation but President Eisenhower, to his credit, had the moral courage to say, ‘This has to end.’

President EISENHOWER: I could have spoken from Rhode Island, of where I had been staying recently. But I felt that, in speaking from the house of Lincoln, of Jackson and of Wilson, my words would better convey both the sadness I feel in the action I was compelled today to make. And the firmness with which I intend to pursue this course until the orders of the federal court at Little Rock can be executed without unlawful interference.

HOLT: The next day, September 25th, the black students returned to the school.

Governor FAUBUS: We are now an occupied territory.

GREEN: We had a jeep with soldiers and machine gun mount in front, a jeep, machine gun mount with soldiers in the back of the station wagon. We pulled up in front of Central High School. There was a cordon of soldiers that surrounded us, and we walked up the steps into Central High School. We certainly knew that anybody watching this, had to feel that the United States Government was going to support the rights of nine African American students to go to the school of their choice.

NBC's Lester Holt discusses the impact of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education on Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Little Rock Nine were the first black students to attend the all white school.

In 1957, three years after Brown, schools in the south were still largely segregated. But in September of that year, nine black teenagers would attempt to enroll in a white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Their action would spark one of the pivotal battles of the Civil Rights movement and would bring the power of the presidency and the federal government into the dispute.

Harvard Law School, Mr. CHARLES J. OGLETREE Jr.: The Brown decision was decided in 1954, and people thought the battle was won. Well, it was just beginning, because the resistance to integration was massive.

HOLT: The Brown versus Board of Education ruling decreed that the integration of public schools be implemented with “all deliberate speed.” The ambiguity of that phrase provided states that practiced segregation with an excuse to take their time. The white community in Little Rock overwhelmingly opposed change. And after mass protest, Governor Orval Faubus refused to carry out a plan to integrate.

Little Rock Nine, ERNEST GREEN: Labor Day evening the governor was on television indicating that he was calling out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent us from going to school.

HOLT: The governor said the troops were there to prevent violence and to protect life and property. Despite several attempts by the students to enter the school, they were turned away. Just weeks later, a federal judge ruled that Governor Faubus had illegally used the troops to prevent integration.

Governor ORVAL FAUBUS: Now that a federal court, however, has chosen to substitute its judgment for mine, as to how the peace and order should be preserved, I must temporarily at least abide.

GREEN: We went to school for half a day, I think on the 23rd of September, and that was when the mob looked as if they were going to break through the police barriers.

HOLT: When a mob outside learned the students were already inside, chaos ensued. The situation had become so out of control, that on September 24th, three weeks after the crisis began, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a thousand members of army’s 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, and federalized the Arkansas National Guard.

President DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER: I have today issued an executive order directing the use of troops, under federal authority, to aid in the execution of federal law at Little Rock, Arkansas.

Mr. OGLETREE : It was a classic moment of the federal authority, president, confronting the local, state authority, the governor. And the governor was right, he had all sorts of support to continue segregation but President Eisenhower, to his credit, had the moral courage to say, ‘This has to end.’

President EISENHOWER: I could have spoken from Rhode Island, of where I had been staying recently. But I felt that, in speaking from the house of Lincoln, of Jackson and of Wilson, my words would better convey both the sadness I feel in the action I was compelled today to make. And the firmness with which I intend to pursue this course until the orders of the federal court at Little Rock can be executed without unlawful interference.

HOLT: The next day, September 25th, the black students returned to the school.

Governor FAUBUS: We are now an occupied territory.

GREEN: We had a jeep with soldiers and machine gun mount in front, a jeep, machine gun mount with soldiers in the back of the station wagon. We pulled up in front of Central High School. There was a cordon of soldiers that surrounded us, and we walked up the steps into Central High School. We certainly knew that anybody watching this, had to feel that the United States Government was going to support the rights of nine African American students to go to the school of their choice.

Choose your product

For NBC Learn in Learning Management Systems
please log in to your institution's Learning Management System web site and
click "Browse NBC Learn".
For further assistance, please contact our NBC Learn Support Team and we'll be happy to assist you.

If you are trying to view the videos from inside a school or
university, your IT admin may need to enable streaming on your
network. Please see the Internet Filtering section of our Technical
Requirements page.

DVDs AND OTHER COPIES

Videos on this page are not available on DVD at this time due to
licensing restrictions on the footage.

DOWNLOADING VIDEOS

Subscribers to NBC Learn may download videos and play them back
without an internet connection. Please click
here to find out more about subscribing or to sign up for a FREE
trial (download not included in free trial).

The Science of the Olympic Winter Games videos are only
available to visitors inside the United States due to licensing
restrictions on the Olympics footage used in the videos.

FILTERING

If you are trying to view the videos from inside a school or
university, your IT admin may need to enable streaming on your
network. Please see the Internet Filtering section of our Technical
Requirements page.

DVDs AND OTHER COPIES

The Science of the Olympic Winter Games is not available on DVD
at this time due to licensing restrictions on on Olympic footage.

DOWNLOADING VIDEOS

Subscribers to NBC Learn may download videos and play them back
without an internet connection. Please click
here to find out more about subscribing or to sign up for a FREE
trial (download not included in free trial).